To those of us who are not ideological and political slaves to the Republican and Democratic parties, the so-called "debt ceiling crisis" appears rather different than it does to Democrats and Republicans. From Sam Wilson at Think 3:

The debate over raising the national debt ceiling is a manufactured crisis, a war of choice that may do more to disillusion people about the sufficiency of the two-party system than any event in a long time . . .

Read the rest to see Sam's proposal for the ideal compromise, as always from the perspective of radical common sense. At Divided We Stand, the Dividist argues in a similar vein that the entire "debate" and "crisis" is nothing more than Kabuki theater:

Kabuki Theater - a traditional form of Japanese drama characterized by highly stylized postures and exaggerated gestures accompanied by familiar songs and plots rooted in historical tragedy (or comedy). The audience knows the story and knows how it ends. The art is in the quality of the performance and not in the plot. In the United States, this art form is more easily recognizable as "The Debt Ceiling Crisis." . . .

Tirade Faction and I were discussing a very similar point a few days ago, which prompted me to make a pathetic attempt at summing up the situation in the form of a comic: